Curtain attaching device



1965 o. E. B. POULTVNEY 3,

CURTAIN ATTACHING DEVICE Filed June 8, 1962 /11 INVENTOR OSBORNE E. a POULTNEY A TTORNE Y United States Patent 0 3,214,788 CURTAIN ATTACHING DEVHIE Osborne E. B. Poultney, 2S Vickery SL, Kaiapoi, New Zealand Filed June 8, 1962, Ser. No. 201,065 Claims priority, application New Zealand, June 15, 1961, 129,371 3 Claims. (Cl. 16-872) The invention relates to devices for attaching curtains or the like to curtain track runners.

Curtains intended for attachment to tracks by means of runners which are slidably engaged with the tracks are normally provided with an upper edge portion (commonly, and hereinafter, termed a heading) which, when the curtain is attached to the track by means of runners, extends above and conceals the curtain track and runners. This is particularly desirable for the sake of neatness when the track and the upper part of the curtain are not concealed by means of a pelmet.

Frequently the heading of a curtain tends to droop after the curtain has been in use for a while, so that it not only fails to conceal the track, but itself detracts from the neatness of appearance of the curtain.

Usually, a curtain is not attached directly to the runners of its supporting track, but is attached thereto by means of an attaching device, of which many different kinds are available. Some of these devices have been designed with the object of prowding a measure of support for the heading of the curtain, so as to assist in maintaining the heading in an erect position in which it fulfills its purpose of concealing the curtain track. The present invention is specifically concerned with devices of this latter kind, such devices being hereinafter referred to for convenience as curtain hooks.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a curtain hook which affords adequate support for the heading of a curtain which it is used, and which is easily and removably engageable both with the curtain and with the runners of the curtain track.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a curtain hook which is firmly engageable with an associated curtain track runner, in such a manner that movement of the hook in relation to the runner is substantially avoided, so that the hook provides a firm support for the heading of a curtain which is attached to the hook. In this way, the invention avoids the disadvantages of certain known kinds of curtain hooks, which are only loosely attached to their associated runners, and which in consequence tend to become easily disengaged from the runners, and also fail to provide a sufficiently firm support for the heading of the curtain Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

The curtain hook provided by the invention has a mounting portion which is adapted for wedging engagement on a lower end part of an associated curtain track runner, and a supporting portion including a plurality of fingers which extend upwardly from the mounting portion so that, when the hook is engaged on an associated runner as aforementioned and the runner is engaged with an associated curtain track, the fingers are disposed in front of, and extend above the level of, the curtain track; the fingers being removably engageable within pockets, loops, or the like, provided on the rear face of the heading of a curtain so as to support the heading in an erect position corresponding to that of the fingers.

For preference, the hook is shaped so that its mounting portion extends downwardly from the lower end of a runner on which it is engaged as aforesaid, whilst the fingers of its supporting portion extend forwardly and upwardly from the lower end of the mounting portion,

Patented Nov. 2, 1965 so that the weight of the curtain is taken by the hook at the junction of the fingers with the mounting portion of the hook. In this way, by using the hook with an appropriately designed runner, it is possible to ensure that the weight of the curtain is taken at a point substantially directly below the point or points at which the runner bears on the associated track, thereby avoiding any tilting of the runner in relation to the track, and, in the case of some kinds of track and runners, the consequent possibility that the runner may jam or wedge against the track so that the free movement of the runner along the track is impeded.

A curtain hook constituting one embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail by way of example of how the invention can be carried into effect, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary front elevation illustrating the manner in which a curtain is mounted on the runners of a curtain track by means of the hook;

FIGURE 2 is a rear elevation of the hook mounted on an associated runner, which is shown in engagement with a portion of curtain track;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a rear perspective view of the hook by itself, on a larger scale than that of any of the preceding figures.

As shown in the drawings, the hook consists of a mounting portion which is generally indicated by the reference number 1, and a supporting portion which is generally indicated by the reference numeral 2. The hook is designed for use with a conventional kind of C- section curtain track 3 and associated runners 4, the mounting portion 1 of the hook being designed for wedging engagement over a substantially circular lower end part 4a of a runner 4 so that the mounting portion 1 of the hook extends downwardly from the said end part 411 of the runner.

To enable the mounting portion to be thus engaged with the end part 4a of the runner 4, the upper end part of the mounting portion 1 is formed with a pair of cheeks 5, constituted by rearwardly inturned side edge portions of the mounting portion 1, the formation of the checks 5 being such that the upper part of the mounting portion 1 is tapered somewhat towards its upper end, as shown particularly in FIGURES 2 and 4 of the drawings. In this way, when the upper end part of the mounting portion 1 of the hook is applied to the lower end part 4a of its associated runner 4, the cheeks 5 fit around the part 4a, and become wedged thereon owing to the upward convergence of the sides of the upper end part of the mounting portion 1. The hook thus becomes firmly engaged with the runner 4, and is substantially rigid therewith.

The supporting portion 2 of the hook extends forwardly and upwardly from the lower end of the mounting portion 1, and consists of four fingers 6 which diverge slightly from each other, fanwise, from their lower to their upper ends. At their lower ends, the fingers are united integrally with the material of the mounting portion 1 of the hook. For preference the fingers 6 are rounded at their upper ends, although in the drawings they are shown as being substantially squared off at their upper ends.

The book is intended for use as shown in FIGURE 1 in supporting a curtain 7 having a heading 7a, to the rear face of which is sewn a strip of a known kind of curtain heading tape 8 formed with a plurality of vertical slots or pockets 9 disposed transversely of the tape and spaced regularly from each other along the length of the tape. The attachment of the curtain to the hook is effected by inserting the fingers 6 of the hook into four of the pockets 9 of the tape 3, so that the lower ends of the pockets 9, and the lower edge of the tape 8, lie

within the angle formed at the junction of the fingers 6 with the mounting portion 1 of the hook.

The distance between the fingers 6 is less than the distance between the pockets 9 of the tape 8, so that, as shown in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a series of pleats 10 are formed at intervals along the length of the heading 7a, at the places where the heading is engaged with the fingers 6 of its supporting hooks.

The hook shown in the drawings is particularly suitable for use with C-section curtain track and its associated runners, as also shown in the drawings. FIGURE 3 f the drawings, in particular, shows the conventional kind of runner used with this kind of curtain track, and these runners have a tendency to tilt in a plane at right angles to the length of the track, so that the heads of the runners tends to jam or wedge against the faces of the track above and below the aperture therein, and thereby impede the free movement of the runner along the track. The nature of this difficulty will be apparent from a consideration of the runner 4 shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawings.

As the weight of the curtain supported by the hook is taken at the lowest point of the hook, at the junction of the mounting portion 1 and supporting portion 2 of the hook, it is desirable that this point should be disposed substantially directly beneath the bearing surface 4b of the head of the runner. For this purpose, the angular intermediate portion 40 of the runner 4 shown in FIG- URE 3 is preferably considerably shortened, so that the lower end part 4a of the runner is brought more directly beneath the bearing portion 4b. As this modification of the runner 4 is an obvious one, and as the runner by itself does not form part of the present invention, the modification just described has not been illustrated separately in the accompanying drawings.

To facilitate the engagement of the mounting portion 1 of the hook on the lower end part 4a of certain kinds of runners 4, and particularly on the lower end part of the modified runner suggested in the preceding paragraph, the lower part of the mounting portion 1 of the hook may be formed with an aperture, as indicated in broken lines at 11 in FIGURES 2 and 4 of the drawings. The purpose of such an aperture is to temporarily and partially accommodate the end part 4a of the associated runner while the upper end part of the mounting portion 1 of the hook is correctly positioned in relation to the end part 4a. By then straightening the hook to its normal erect position shown in the drawings, and moving the hook downwardly for a small distance, the cheeks 5 of the upper end part of the mounting portion are brought into the desired wedging engagement with the lower end part 4a of the runner 4.

Although, in the hook shown in the drawings, the fingers 6 are shown as being in the form of flat strips integrally united with the mounting portion 1 of the hook, this is not necessarily the case, and the fingers may consist of lengths of round metal wire or rod, which may be attached at their lower ends, by soldering or otherwise, to the lower end of the mounting portion 1. Also, when the fingers are in the form of flat strips as shown in the drawings, each of them may be formed with a centrally located ridge or spine extending lengthwise of the finger for the gerater part of the length of the finger, for the purpose of providing added strength. For preference such a rigid spine would be continued around the angle formed at the junction of each finger 6 with the mounting portion 1.

The pockets 9 of the tape 8 are open at their upper ends, which are normally disposed some distance below the upper edge of the tape 8 as shown in FIGURE 1 of the drawings. The length of the fingers 6 is such that they do not extend substantially above the upper ends of the pockets 9, and do not in any case project above the upper edge of the heading 7a of the curtain 7. Although the hook shown in the drawings has four fingers 6, a greater or smaller number of fingers may be provided according to the circumstances in which the hook is to be used, and according to the pleating or other effect desired at the heading of the curtain.

The hooks shown in the drawings may be fabricated in any suitable manner, and may for example be stamped out of sheet metal, or moulded in a suitably rigid synthetic resinous material. Other possible methods of fabrication of the hook will'be obvious to those in the trade concerned.

I claim:

1. A curtain hook having a flat mounting portion including a pair of cheeks formed on an upper part thereof, said cheeks including inturned convergently disposed side edges and adapted to encompass partially the lower end part of an associated curtain track runner, and a supporting portion formed on a lower part of said mounting portion including a plurality of fiat fingers which are spaced from and extend upwardly and beyond the mounting portion so that, when the hook is engaged on an associated runner as aforementioned and the runner is engaged with an associated curtain track, the fingers are disposed in front of, and extend above the level of, the curtain track; the fingers being spaced from each other and being removably engageable within loops provided on the rear face of the heading of a curtain so as to support the heading in an erect position corresponding to that of the fingers.

2. A curtain hook according to claim 1, and wherein the lower part of the said mounting portion is formed with an aperture adapted to partially accommodate the said lower end part of the runner during the operation of engaging the mounting portion on the said part of the runner.

3. A curtain hook according to claim 1, and wherein the said fingers diverge from each other fanwise from their lower to their upper ends.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 678,523 7/01 Simpson 24-86 2,276,992 3/42 Mangler. 2,698,455 1/55 McMurray l6-87.4 2,901,037 8/59 Yohner et a1. -346 2,986,768 6/61 Perlmutter 1687.2 3,062,281 11/62 Solomon 160348 3,081,819 3/63 Lydard 160-348 3,090,431 5/63 Stubblefield 160-345 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,056,801 5/59 Germany.

DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CURTAIN HOOK HAVING A FLAT MOUNTING PORTION INCLUDING A PAIR OF CHEEKS FORMED ON AN UPPER PART THEREOF, SAID CHEEKS INCLUDING INTURNED CONVERGENTLY DISPOSED SIDE ENDGES AND ADAPTED TO ENCOMPASS PARTIALLY THE LOWER END PART OF AN ASSOCAITED CURTAIN TRACK RUNNER, AND A SUPPORTING PORTION FORMED ON A LOWER PART OF SAID MOUNTING PORTION INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF FLAT FINGERS WHICH ARE SPACED FROM AND EXTEND UPWARDLY AND BDYOND THE MOUNTING PORTION SO THAT, WHEN THE HOOK IS ENGAGED ON AN ASSOCIATED RUNNER AS AFOREMENTIONED AND THE RUNNER IS ENGAGED WITH AN ASSOCIATED CURTAIN TRACK, THE FINGERS ARE DISPOSED IN FRONT OF, AND EXTEND ABOVE THE LEVEL OF, THE CURTAIN TRACK; THE FINGERS BEING SPACED FROM EACH OTHER AND BEING REMOVABLY ENGAGEABLE WITHIN LOOPS PRO- 